Vincent's Lament
by aeondaniel
Summary: Taking place immediately after Vincent's battle with Omega, the demons are starting to jeopardise Vincent's health and sanity. Can he be saved? Cloud/Tifa Vincent/Beekeeper Slight one-sided Vincent/Tifa
1. A Finale Chaotic

I - I

Vincent staggered from the deserted Shin-Ra building, his heart heavy with the burden of sin. Through his entire journey, he had sought redemption or retribution, only to find a multitude of sins add themselves to his already sagging shoulders. The weight of worlds could not compare to the burden Vincent had to carry with him now. Deceit, lies and dishonesty seemed to follow him around, a constant blemish on his friends' purity. Their heroic acts had added shame and envy to his lists of sins; he was ashamed of his own imperfections, and jealous of his friends' complete selflessness. He could never compare to their goodness; even piety.

'_But your sins make you strong, Vincent Valentine__'_ the demons he carried as representations of his sinful deeds would whisper in his mind, their words caressing and soothing his tired shoulders 'W_ithout your sins, you would also be without power. And what, Vincent Valentine, could make up for the loss of such power as we grant you?__'_

The question burned into his soul, and his demons took advantage of this. Yes, it was true that Vincent had proven himself invaluable to the cause of ridding the planet of Sephiroth, Geostigma, and most recently, Deep ground and Omega, but where his friends' heroic deeds had stemmed from their intrinsic goodness, he had had to borrow the strength of demons, beasts and madmen.

His dislocated wrist hung limply at his side, his handgun held in his gloved hand. The wings and fangs of Chaos had once again retreated to the deepest recesses of his mind, but the devil's constant presence was prominent. The protomateria shone brightly in Vincent's chest, invisible to the world outside world thanks to his ribcage and flesh, but ever blinding in Vincent's mind. It represented purity, Lucrecia's purity, purity which he himself could only ever dream of attaining.

His shoulders sagged a little more as he remembered his original sin.

_'Lucrecia...'_a small voice echoed from the back of his brain, barely audible through the constant jeers and shrieks of the demons that had made his mind their playground. "Lucrecia!" he repeated aloud. Tears welled in his eyes but he held them back. His demons seized the opportunity.

_'__Yes Vincent. Hold back those tears. __What right do you have, Valentine, to __cry? One with power such as you__ has no __n__eed for the weakness of emotion__.'_

Vincent knew they were right. He had exchanged his emotions for power long ago, when his cowardice had prevented him from saving Lucrecia. Hojo had been fate's WEAPON, the executioner, the inflictor of a destiny that some higher force had deemed fitting, relative to Vincent's crime.

He steeled himself. His role in the finale of this play was that of the cold, unfeeling spectator. He allowed his demons to suppress his sadness and stood up straighter. His wrist cracked back into place as his demons worked their way around his system, given the go ahead by their host himself to roam free through his body. His punishment, wilfully accepted.

Passing his handgun back into his right hand, he headed for the plate. With lightening speed and sure footing he danced around the debris and dead bodies that lined the path away from the Shin-Ra Inc. Empire. Once he reached the break in the plate that had once been Sector 7, he shot his gun straight into the sky, bathing himself in a brilliant red light.

This final act was far from over.

-

A red flare shot into the sky from the direction of the derelict Shin-Ra building. Tifa smiled inwardly as she realised that her friend was still alive. Glancing around, she saw looks of relief and happiness on her companion's faces; Cloud allowed his lips to curl into an uncharacteristic smile, while Cid took a break from fighting to light up a cigarette.

"More lives than a cat..." the blond pilot said, but jumped a little when something jumped high into the air in front of them, screaming in a high-pitched Scottish accent.

"Maybe not, Cid!" Cait Sith dropped in front of them, holding up a hand in friendly salute "Cait Sith No. 14, reporting for duty!"

"14?" Cloud said aloud.

_'Reeve must be in trouble...'_ Tifa thought. The president of the WRO had insisted on going closer to Midgar with Cait Sith...the seventh so far. For him to have lost another six robots didn't bode well. She grabbed her phone from the sheathe that kept it firmly at her side.

"Reeve!" she shouted into the black speaker. No reply. "Reeve! It's Tifa! Come in Reeve!"

She looked around at her friends. Their expressions told her that they were all set to give up on Reeve, but she wouldn't abandon him so easily.

"Yuffie..." she called into her radiophone "...meet me at the entrance to Sector 6, I need to check on Reeve."

"Roger!" the young ninja's voice came from the other end, crackly but audible "I'm on my way but it'll take me a good ten minutes to get there with all the heavy fighting going on down in the plains..."

Tifa stuck the radio back into its strap on her thigh, and with a nod towards the others made to jump from the ledge they were standing on.

"Wait!" Cid jumped forward, grabbing the brown haired woman's arm before she reached the edge "There's no way you can make it to Midgar! Look at the fighting!"

She looked down into the barren wasteland that stretched before them to the ghost town of Midgar. Cid had a point. Dust and smoke rose and intertwined above the ground, making the legions of deep ground soldiers and armies of the WRO seem to float together in a dance of death; blood smeared itself across the ground only to be rode over by monstrous tanks and fired upon by behemoth war crafts in the sky.

"I need to go Cid, if I can meet up with Vincent and Yuffie we can help Reeve..."

"No Tifa, Yuffie can make it across fine without being seen, and Vincent's already in Midgar, but you haven't been trained the way Yuffie has, you'd be swamped as soon as you hit the ground.

"Vincent." Cloud said into his own phone "Vincent, can you hear me."

"What are you – " Cait Sith began, but..

"Yes, Cloud?" A low, gravelly voice replied through the phone.

"Are you okay?"

-

Vincent put his phone back in his pocket. He sighed, slightly annoyed that he was going to have to bail Reeve out of some other situation, and that here he was, fresh out of the battle against Omega, and he was again on the move. But a part of him was thrilled. Another opportunity to unleash his strength, a chance to feed his most base desires. The demons chorused in dissonant harmony in his brain as he made for the church that marked the end of Sector 6 and the beginning of the Midgar plains.

_'You see, Valentine?'_ The voice he recognised as Chaos' said, louder than the other three beasts that resided in his mind _'If you didn't have us, you wouldn't be able to survive in this hell, __yet with us, you __thrive. You need us, Vincent Valentine.'_

Vincent was used to speeches like this by now; for thirty years (possibly more, Vincent's concept of time was somewhat distorted) his demons, mainly Chaos, had been repeating how valuable to him they were, wallowing in their own self importance safe in the knowledge that Vincent believed in his reliance on them.

His body shivered with anticipation as the wings of Chaos once again appeared from his back, and his mouth felt numb as his teeth grew longer and pointed thanks to Chaos's emergence. A cloud of red mist briefly appeared before Vincent's eyes, dissipating to reveal the appearance of the demon that resided within. The host was once more overcome by the parasite. While the protomateria prevented Chaos acting out his own desires, making sure Vincent's were fulfilled proved enough to quench his natural blood thirst.

Vincent retreated into the shell of his body, conscious and aware of his surroundings, but with some other force controlling his physical being.

_'You know where you're going, Chaos...'_ he sent to his puppet master. A cry escaped his own throat in reply, and he allowed himself to be carried on towards his goal without worry. Chaos tore through the few meaningless monsters that tried to bar his path, and occasionally screamed in pleasure. The harbinger of death, now without the authority of Omega looming, could spill blood once more.

Alone with his thoughts now, it was when Vincent transformed that his brain became his own. He relished these moments, where the intensity of battle and the tranquillity of seclusion merged to give him his own quiet paradise. It was in this state of limbo that Vincent could reflect without interference from the demons that he could think and simply be.

His time alone was always too short however, as he quickly found the voices creeping back into his thoughts while the visage of Chaos retreated once more to give him his own appearance. Ahead, a young ninja with neck length black hair and a threatening shriuken was waiting, outside a crumbling chapel.

"Vincent!" Yuffie called, as he found himself saluting her while Chaos' wings retreated back fully into his shoulder blades.

-

The Deep Ground numbers were definitely down. The WRO was making good progress and Tifa guessed they would be at Midgar by sundown. But it was then that the real battle would begin; the intricate maze of abandoned streets and fallen debris would give their assailants a great many hiding places.

They hoped to drive them back into the Deep Ground stronghold in the base of the Shin-Ra building, where they could lock the remaining soldiers away while they researched ways to reverse the years of Mako influence that they had undergone. Shelke was showing signs of promise. Why not her Deep Ground brethren?

The gang were back on the Shera now, since Cid had decided they should return to the skies and begin another assault. The soldiers on the ground were fighting valiantly, but they had their limits. With Deep Ground's attention turned to them in the skies, medics would have time to tend to the wounded and the healthier soldiers would be able to take advantage of their enemies' diverted attentions.

"Vincent's met with Yuffie." A slightly mechanical voice said quietly beside Tifa. "The robot is leading them to Reeve right now."

Tifa nodded at Shelke, and the young girl walked off, content to sit beside Cloud and Red XIII on the ship's deck. Looking down through the glass floor, Tifa could see the fighting below. So much senseless violence. Yuffie had told her about Hojo's hand in things here, and she regretted not being with the team who had fought him at the Sister Ray. While Barret, Cloud and Vincent defeated the physical body of Hojo, she had been dealing with the Turks and a burst pipe.

Her hand curled into a fist. She had lived in midgar for over 5 years. To think of the people there all dying in the Sector 7 disaster, in the meteorfall and in the lingering effects of Geostigma hurt her, but to think Hojo defiling the living and orchestrating the warping of thousands of minds angered her more than even the death of her father had. Shelke was showing more signs of normal human feelings and thoughts; what if those who had already died had been saved?

She had never met any of the other Tsviets, but Shelke had told them all what they could be up against; Rosso the Crimson, Azul the Cerulean, Nero the Sable and Weiss the Immaculate. Could they have been saved? Could they have called off this meaningless battle?


	2. Progressive Destruction

I – II

Yuffie chattered on about some sort of reactor leak that was stopping the WRO from getting to some of the most dangerous Deep ground soldiers while Vincent walked slowly, a little ahead of her. They had been told that Reeve had radioed in about an hour ago from the old abandoned mansion of Sector 6. Don Corneo's old home. Apparently there had been some discrepancies between the gang boss and Rufus Shin-Ra before his death; the gang lord had left Midgar with Rufus hot on his tail as well as Sephiroth's, but not simply because of his leaking of information to Cloud, Tifa and Aeris, more because the Don had been taking advantage of his close relationship with Heidegger in order to siphon vast sums of money from the companies accounts to another account in far off Wutai.

"So that explains what he had been doing in Wutai when he got hold of me and Elena" Yuffie had told Vincent. The vampire, however had other things on his mind.

"Why is Reeve going after the details of this Wutai account? What does he care if Rufus Shin-Ra was ripped off?"

Yuffie had simply shrugged. Vincent liked Yuffie, out of everyone else in their troop he and she had been quite close -opposites clearly attracted- but he knew that she was nowhere near a genius. Yuffie was valuable to the team thanks to her skills in speed and stealth, her fighting style and training ideal for espionage and sabotage. Red XIII and Reeve were the most intelligent of the team, whereas Tifa and Cid had the most common sense. Cloud was the strongest of them all, and for some reason everyone looked to him as the leader, with Barret constantly on his back and advising him. When Aeris had been alive, she had been the motivator; keeping the gang's spirits up in any situation. But Vincent couldn't fathom where he belonged; or even if he did belong.

'_You don't belong anywhere, Valentine_' The demon's liked to remind him. But Vincent shot his mind back to the present, and out of his musings.

The conversation had descended into nonsensical babbling about this burst reactor main. Vincent couldn't care less if the WRO didn't get to the last of the Deep ground soldiers. Having spent time with both Shelke and Weiss, he had come to realise that these people were just pawns in a scheme far more complex than even the WRO could comprehend.

"Yuffie..."Vincent stopped suddenly and rounded on his companion "...shut up. I'm trying to listen."

The young ninja had stopped talking, but the silence that followed was awkward and forced. Yuffie didn't cope well in silent situations.

'_Miss us Valentine? With that girl in your ear it must have been hard for you to make us out...'_ the galian beast sneered. Three other voices cackled malevolently in the background; the galian beast was something of the joker for the other demons' entertainment. His humour was lost on Vincent. _'How long now until you have need of one of us? Aside from Chaos here, none of us have had a proper chance to stretch our legs for days.'_

Vincent felt a sharp pain in his side and his clawed hand suddenly ripped into his ribcage, the skin on his arm purpling while deep red blood spilt onto his red cape and onto the ground.

'_That thing in your chest holds no power over the rest of us,__ Valentine. The G-Cells in your blood may allow some protection from full possession, but make no mistake; any one of us could seize your body, if not your __mind, to accomplish our own end, even for a short time__. Remember what __**I**__ can do, Valentine.'_

The voices stopped. Vincent became even more aware of his blood seeped side and the fuss Yuffie was making. She was confused, scared and worried for her friend, but most of all, she was getting on his nerves.

"I'm fine Yuffie." He told her as he stood straighter. As he pulled his clawed hand out of his torso he noticed that his hand was his again; chalk white with small scrapes and a long winding scar under the gold claw that he had received as a Turks before his transformation. "Now, let's find Reeve."

The vampire was too perturbed by the sudden silence in his brain to care that Yuffie was close to tears as she ran to keep at his side.

-

_Author's note : Ok, I know this was a short chapter. I'm not sure what I want to have happened to Reeve yet though. Any suggestions or requests are greatly appreciated :P Thanks _


	3. The Beekeeper

I-III

The road leading to Sector 6 had long been deserted by even the bravest of the monsters left free to roam the fallen metropolis that was Midgar, and the hand of man had been absent since Meteorfall. Only the sound of the wind whistled through Vincent's ears as he lay on the dusty ground while his companions looked down at him.

"The wound's too deep for a cure spell..."

Words would occasionally pierce his consciousness but he was, in the main, somewhere else. Another time, perhaps, or another place? He didn't know. Wherever he was he was acutely aware of how hard the ground felt underneath him, and how cold his side was thanks to his cooling blood that was being lambasted by a particularly cold breeze.

"We need to leave Reeve for now...The Shera..."

He was aware of a hand in his, a small hand clutching his as dearly as if it were life itself. He was aware of the sounds around him; a low whistling wind, gunfire in the distance, the roaring of airship engines and the low crackle of a fire. Someone was trying to keep him warm. And they were failing.

"Come in Cid..."

A chill gripped him. Harder than the hand that rested in his, something clutched his heart and his soul, freezing every part of his being. He felt his lips harden, and his eyes began to sting as cold set into them, but somehow he was unable to close them. He stared helplessly into everything and nothing. The Shera hovering directly overhead...a deep swirling shadow forming the shape of a beautiful woman...Tifa letting go of his hand and tying a rope around her waist...a hand reaching out to him from the darkness...Tifa grabbing his midriff and being pulled back up to the Shera by pullies and wires...A small cackle as his hand reached out to touch the one offered to him...Cloud helping the girls pull him into the ships hold.

And then nothing. With the closing of the door came a sharp pain that rendered him unconscious, the dark shadow disappeared and he had the strange feeling something had returned.

_'Miss us Valentine?' _A sickly voice croaked in his mind. He saw the visage of a thin, unhealthy man with long black hair and a terrifying leather mask. He carried an ever turning Chainsaw and his eyes dance with madness. Hellmasker. _'We've brought a friend, Valentine. And she'll be here for a while.'_

The sickening madman disappeared and for a moment, leaving Vincent with a strange numbness filling the void that was once occupied by the constant frequencies of interfering demons. A strange buzzing noise filled his ears and his eyes glazed over momentarily.

When he regained control of his senses, a beautiful and strangely familiar woman stood before him. Tall, slender, with round eyes and small glasses and long, flowing brown hair that swept past her waist.

'Lucrecia...' he said to himself.

But the voice that escaped from this woman was not Lucrecia's. It was cold and unfeeling, with a resounding echo and a tone as sharp as ice.

_'Vincent Valentine.'_ Its shrill voice came. _'I am the beekeeper.'_

-

Vincent shot out of unconsciousness, flying through a whirlwind of black hues. He could feel himself rising through his own consciousness and back into the real world; his senses dulled and a comforting numbness swept over his being as he floated between himself and the outside world. The cackles and jeers of his demons and the one named 'The Beekeeper' followed him through his safe haven, but even though could not dampen his spirit. He felt warmth, comfort even joy.

He sat bolt upright in his bed, the covers falling to his midriff revealing him to have been stripped off his black clothes, claw and cape.

His physique was surprisingly muscular; a glance at him clothed and he appeared frail, however frightening his crimson eyes were. But underneath his thin body was finely built, well toned and only slightly scarred. With the exception of the twisting scar on his right hand, and a newly formed scar on his right side, he was untouched.

"You're awake already?" A voice came from his left. He turned, or tried to, finding it hard to manoeuvre thanks to an unusual tightness in his scarred side. He grunted as he clenched his teeth against the pain; not enjoying it, but not repelling it. "Stitches." The voice came again.

"...Reeve?" Vincent asked, his voice shaky as he still railed against the pain in an attempt to turn around

"Yes, it's me." The tall, robed man walked forward from the shadows, his leg in a cast and his left hand holding a crutch. "They told me about your injuries when they brought me aboard."

"What happened to you?" The vampire gave up. The searing pain proved too much for even his ancient body to put up with. He flopped back into a lying position and let his friend walk to his bedside.

"Deep ground. There was a squad in Sector Six, regrouping. One of the area scouts found me, so I had to send in Cait Sith. Unfortunately, my robots only managed to take out two of them; the remaining three dragged me into Corneo's mansion and tied me up. They tried to torture information out of me, thinking me nothing more than a spy." He paused and looked at his cast. "I should be thankful. If they had known who I truly was I might not have been here..."

An awkward silence fell between the two. Vincent had never been comfortable around Reeve; whenever they had met Vincent had always ended up being roped into some operation or mission.

"They told me you received your injury when you were looking for me..." the ex Shin-Ra employee said after the audible silence became too much to bare "...Thank you Vincent..."

"How did they find you?"

"Well..." Reeve stood again and hobbled over to the nearby window. It was the length and height of the entire wall; a scene of orange and pink cloud flitting past the Shera while a small yellow dot that was the sun melted into the fire red ocean in the horizon met the vampire's eyes as he watched his friend make his way to the triple glazed glass. The sight reflected perfectly in his crimson eyes, the beauty of it almost bringing a tear to his good-as-glass eyes. "...when the Shera drew low enough to hoist you and Tifa up into the hold, Cid dropped down to accompany Yuffie into the mansion. The soldier holding me had heard the propellers and came to investigate, and..." he looked over his shoulder to a bed directly across from Vincent. He had failed to notice that it had been occupied "...Yuffie got cocky. One of the soldiers managed to put a bullet through her stomach..."

Vincent gasped. Once again he railed against the pain in his side as he tried to jump up and see Yuffie for himself; but no such luck. For now, Vincent Valentine was bed bound.

"She'll live." Reeve added "But she'll be out of action for a few weeks or even months. The doc said it could be half a year before the wound's healed enough for her to even risk walking."

"And Cid?"

"He's fine. Somehow he had managed to get a hold of some material from Yuffie's chest and managed to wipe the soldiers out no problem."

Another audible silence. Vincent mulled things over in his head; why hadn't his demons healed his side? If he hadn't been taken back to the Shera he could have watched the young ninja's back.

"Yuffie..."

-

_Author's note : I know that there is no hint of anything called The Beekeeper in FFVII, however, I was listening to the Tori Amos song 'The Beekeeper' when I was writing this chapter and thought it sounded kind of cool. I also know that Reeve coming back and Yuffie being injured is kind of sudden, but I think it's time to move away from Midgar...I always hated the place :P_

_R&R please?? _


	4. Revelations of a Madman's Past

II – I

The next two weeks passed without incident. Vincent got visits from Red XIII, Cid and Tifa every other day and Cloud would wonder in from time to time when he had nothing better to do. He had never been big on showing concern for his comrades. Mainly, he was left alone in the room while the nurse insisted Reeve started walking around the airship so as to build up his strength, left alone with Yuffie.

Vincent felt bad for the young girl. If only he hadn't been as weak as to succumb to the Galian Beast's hijacking of his body for that brief second, he would never have had to leave for the airship. He was sure that he could have stopped her being injured.

_'It's no use beating yourself up about it, Vincent Valentine.' _a female voice would say to him, pushing her icy voice through the jeers of her demonic peers in his mind _'The past is gone. Finished.'_

The Beekeeper rarely spoke to Vincent, and when she did, all she would say was that the past was dead and gone. She did not laugh at Vincent with the other demons and did not raise her voice above her brethren often; she hardly participated in any conversations they had going. Vincent felt that somehow, she was not always with him. While the other demons were tied to his soul thanks to Hojo's G-Gene experiment, the female in their mist seemed not to be grounded. While her voice ran thick with ice, Vincent felt she had more of a heart than the other beasts that resided in his memories, his thoughts, and his feelings.

But it did not matter. With Yuffie in a coma, another sin had merged with Vincent's mountain. He buckled slightly under an imaginary but somehow real weight that lay on his torso when he lay down, and forced down upon his shoulders when he sat upright.

Vincent Valentine felt tired.

-

Tifa walked through the Shera without really seeing where her feet were taking her. There was another meeting going on in the Operation's Room, and there had been so many since they had regrouped aboard Cid's pride and joy she did not even have to tell her legs where to walk.

She thought about their next objective and sighed. A new adventure really was beginning. She took her usual seat by the window and simply stared out at the group. Red XIII sat with Cait Sith riding his neck, clearly liking the attention the Cat Doll gave him, while Cid lit a cigarette beside her and leaned on the glass behind her. Barret sat on the floor beside Red XIII shining his Missing Score gun arm and Cloud sat in the centre of the room with his feet on the desk and Reeve leaning on his crutch beside him. Tifa decided she had better listen in, despite her boredom; she would have to regale this meeting to Vincent later.

Reeve had managed to retrieve the accounts that he felt were so important, and they revealed some disturbing facts about the shady black market deals Shin-Ra Inc had struck with Don Corneo.

Corneo's pets, Aps and Rapps, had been gifts from President Shin-Ra, gifts for his trading of information, for his monetary donations and for his hand in helping the Turks eradicate any possible threats to the Shin-Ra Empire. But aside from the two monstrosities (who, it seemed, had previously been the corpses of SOLDIER candidates, manipulated by both Jenova and G cells by Hojo), President Shin-Ra had not gifted Corneo enough to satisfy is natural greed for money and power.

The Gang lord had channelled more than just money from the Shin-Ra accounts. Some top secret experiment information had been stored in a secret vault in the Shin-Ra building basements, along with the remains (sometimes alive, sometimes dead) of their subjects. Hojo seemed to tire of experiments with the changing of the winds; Shin-Ra held hundreds of secrets in its deepest depths, some of which Corneo had managed to penetrate and hold for himself.

It seemed the fumbling lord of Sector 6 liked to have a few aces up his sleeve.

"Corneo didn't know what he was taking when he took it. He knew simply that for these experiments to be locked so tightly underground meant that Shin-Ra never wanted them exposed." Reeve explained "And it looks like if Corneo ever got on the wrong side of the President, he could simply play one of his aces to save himself."

"Then why didn't he just show the President some of them when he told us that Sector 7 was to be destroyed? Why did he go all the way to Wutai?" Tifa asked. He head hurt and she didn't care much for the dealings of an underhand gang lord and a tyrant.

"Because by the time the Shin-Ra executives found out it had been Corneo who had leaked that information, President Shin-Ra had been killed by Sephiroth and Jenova; and so, they had to brief Rufus on the situation who took a more aggressive approach. He didn't have a clue about any of the experiments in the basement and Scarlet and Heidegger seemed happy to keep him in the dark."

"So what's the big deal? These things are all locked away in some bank in Wutai, right?" Cid asked. He was just as frustrated as Tifa; he wanted to get back to Rocket Town and spend some time with Shera, and despised having his airship floating endlessly over the vast Gaian Oceans. "What do we have to bother about?"

Reeve sighed slightly. He hobbled towards the magnificent window and leaned his head against it. Everyone turned in his direction, and Cid lit up his third cigarette.

"We have to act. Fast. Not all of the experiments were held in a storage vault. One..." he stood straighter and returned to the centre of the room.

"One of the experiment's Corneo took from the Shin-Ra basements was a young boy. The company called him Aeon, but his real name is unknown. He underwent the same birthing process as Sephiroth, born to one of Hojo's favourite subjects..."

"Favourite subjects...Aeris???" Cloud stood, his face angry.

"Close, Cloud. Ifalna, Aeris' mother. She gave birth to a boy about a year after she gave birth to Aeris. She was never able to see her son, so when she escaped with Aeris she could barely remember what age he was..."

"No..." Tifa put a hand to her mouth.

"Yes. Hojo injected Ifalna with Jenova cells. Aeris has a brother with the power of both the Ancient's and Sephiroth."

"And...Where is he now?" Red XIII asked. "Where is this 'Aeon'?"

"Corneo was raising him as his heir before he was killed. He's living in Wutai, being cared for by the village Elders. He lives in Godo's pagoda."

Tifa suddenly grasped the situation.

A man, around 21 years of age, with the gifts of both the ancients and Jenova was living in Wutai, oblivious (as far as they knew) to his true heritage, but with the potential to wield frightening power, as Sephiroth had done.

"So what do you propose?" Red XII asked. He seemed to be the only one able to speak through his shock.

"Either we recruit him to our cause, or..." Reeve sighed "...We destroy him. We cannot afford to risk the possibility of another Jenova war."

-

_Author's Note: Ok, this is a bit of a wild card I'm using to see if it helps me through my writer's block. It's a bit farfetched, but it is a story. :P I'm not definitely keeping this chapter, it all depends on the response I get so, review please???? _


	5. Ulterior Motives

II – II

Tifa and Vincent discussed Reeve's revelations in the Treatment ward of the Shera. The hazel eyed woman had told Vincent the whole story about Corneo stealing some of Hojo's most top secret experiments, about how Aeris had a brother and about how this 'Aeon' was living in Wutai. Vincent had remained silent for a long time, drinking in the information.

Aeris. He hadn't know the girl all that long, only around two months. She had been around the others a lot longer. Cloud had seemed to have a soft spot for her, and Tifa seemed to look up to her, even though there was an obvious rivalry there. What Vincent remembered of her was a humbling kindness and endless humility that he, more than anyone, could do with.

Aeris' death had hit the entire group hard. In the Forgotten Capital, Cloud had insisted on being alone with the body before he took it to the surface and placed it in the lake. Yuffie had wept in Vincent's arms for hours until Cloud eventually emerged from the derelict building that had once been the epicentre of the Cetra; carrying Aeris' body.

They had stayed in the Forgotten City for three days before heading off after Sephiroth. Time might have been of the essence, but time to grieve was more important. Yuffie and Tifa, in particular, had cried a lot. Cid and Barret had acted their usual selves but a kind of depression had come over them and they weren't as cocky as usual. Red XIII kept returning to the peaceful lake to be alone with his thoughts; he had even wrote Aeris a poem. Cloud had shut himself away, only coming out from the room to eat and to talk about the next move. Even Cait Sith, a robot, had become sullen. Perhaps Reeve have installed it with an emotion chip, or something.

But Vincent hadn't acted like any of the others. He had remained the same cold, quiet observer. Yes, he wish Aeris hadn't died, but he did not seem to suffer the loss the others had. He comforted himself by telling his conscience that the demons suppressed his emotions and prevented him feeling loss, but he feared that he had, in fact, become one of the very beasts he despised.

Another sin, added to the vampires list.

"Do you think Corneo managed to steal any other experiment papers?" he had eventually asked, curious about the Corneo and Aeon situation, but eager to forget Aeris for the time being.

"Well Reeve said Corneo had stolen quite a few experiments...he had wanted to cover himself in case he crossed the Shin-Ra...but what does that have to do with anything?"

"It was...Hojo..." he began, but then he trailed off. He stared blankly into his chest, trying to pierce his flesh and find his heart, but not a beat had disturbed him since his sleep. "...Hojo put the monsters in me...when I died..."

Tifa looked at him for a moment, confused, until she understood, and her eyes grew wide with acknowledgement.

"There may be a cure..."

"I will never be rid of Chaos, not unless I give my life. But the other three...I could be free of them, or at least in control, if only I could reverse what Hojo did to me."

Tifa looked at her friend with pity.

What a shame, to have lost his life, his love, and his mind.

-

They talked until the sun set and the stars started to shine gently against the dark blue, and eventually, black sky. The pale moonlight and the tiny glittering of stars reflected on the water below was a beautiful site as Vincent and Tifa looked out from the magnificent window. Vincent was well enough to walk around now, and the nurse had said he would be able to leave the ward in the next couple of days.

Vincent opened up completely to Tifa. She had a presence that calmed the mind and soothed the soul, and a manner which silently assured Vincent that whatever he told her would stay between them. He talked openly about Lucrecia and Hojo, and at one point tears threatened to fall. The demons were unusually quiet while Vincent poured his heart out to his friend, lightening his burden as she took on board what he said.

He told her everything about his demons, about how the represented his sins and about how they had fed on his emotions and his feelings to the point of eradicating them, but just as he was about to tell her about eh arrival of the new demoness, The Beekeeper, a small, quiet voice interrupted

"So..." the breathy voice came "...even Vincent Valentine...has problems"

"Yuffie!" Tifa cried. She darted over to Yuffie's bed and stood over her, worried that she might be in pain, but at the same time relieved that she was well enough to talk.

"W-Where...am I?"

"The Shera, don't worry, you're alright"

The young ninja closed her eyes and relaxed a little as she realised she was in safe hands.

"Yuffie...I'm sorry I wasn't there"

Vincent had walked slowly over, shuffling his feet and looking intently at the ground.

"Vince...do you feel ok?"

The vampire turned away. The ninja had asked a question he couldn't truthfully answer. Physically, he felt fine, his scarred side offering only little hindrance to his actions and movement. But mentally...since the appearance of the Beekeeper, the demons had been unusually quiet, and he was becoming more and more reflective. He was starting to feel again; all the talk of Aeris' death had brought him round to thinking that maybe he wasn't as unfeeling as he had thought.

_"What's the point of this armour, If it keeps the love away too?"_

The Beekeeper spoke quiet but audibly too him. The coldness in her voice had gone and was replaced with an almost tender timbre which soothed Vincent in a way similar to talking with Tifa had.

_"Vincent Valentine. Find this Aeon and you find your answer"_

The vampire's eyes grew wide with this revelation. The Beekeeper was...helping him???


	6. Aboard The Shera

II-III

Three more days, and Vincent was out of the hospital wing of the Shera. By the time he recovered, Barret and a team of WRO members had returned to the high seas in search of their next oil source. Three rigs had been constructed in the Gaian Ocean separating Junon and the Costa Del Sol, and Barret was confident that within the next few months they could begin supplying energy to towns and cities further inland than Fort Condor and Costa.

Reeve had informed Vincent of their next move; before heading straight for Wutai, he had insisted that Cid make three stops over the Western Continent, at Gongaga, Cosmo Canyon and Nibelheim. Apparently they had unfinished business in these three towns, though what that business was, he was keeping to himself until "the next strategy meeting".

To begin with, Cid had been against it, largely because a stop in Rocket Town had been ruled out before they had even left Edge; a grudge-bearing man, was Cid Highwind. But somehow, the smooth tongue of Reeve Tuetsi had talked the angry-by-nature pilot into it.

Tifa, Cloud and the raven haired vampire had taken to patrolling the ship together. They were going mad with the lack of action, especially after the intense fighting over Midgar. Mostly, they reminisced about their great journey and the Jenova War, only occasionally drifting back to the present to try and come to terms with the possibility of fighting another Sephiroth.

No one wanted to go through that again.

Cloud, in particular, had developed a glassy eyed expression whenever this 'Aeon' was mentioned, withdrawing from all conversation and seeming to deepen into himself. He had yet to give his account of what had gone on in the crater when he had collapsed beside Tifa, and the team had given up trying to hear his story.

Sleeping dogs were best left lying, they had agreed.

So they spent their days walking the Shera for fear of some imagined threat attacking, not really needed, but altogether needed. A strange paradox had flitted over the three, having lost their place in the group. Yuffie felt the same, commenting as much during her brief and infrequent bouts of consciousness.

Tifa was an almost constant vigil at her bedside, as she had been at Vincent's. When Tifa wasn't walking the familiar beat with her two friends, she was eagerly waiting for Yuffie's recovery. When Vincent and Cloud could be bothered they joined her, but usually they ended up in the Shera Bar, a small and definitely hideous room, decorated head to toe in polished oak with a blood red carpet and red velvet curtains blocking the spectacular views beyond the Shera's exterior from view.

"We're over the Costa Del Sol now." Cloud told the vampire as he calmly knocked back his sambucka shot "We've got at least a day more of this before we can land and stretch our legs..."

The blond looked at the empty shot glass and once more, retreated within himself. Vincent smiled slightly and swallowed his own shot, a slight burn trickling down his throat, but nullified almost as quickly as it came by the demons' ever eagerness to prevent their host being damaged.

"The Shera is faster than the Highwind was, Cloud. We'll be there before sunrise."

The Beats had taken to being silent when Vincent couldn't be bothered humouring them, only once or twice deliberately trying to rile him; they feared losing their host, and so their connection to this world, this Gaia. Only Chaos, safe in the knowledge that he of the four must always be with Vincent, remained the same taunting and jeering Demon. The Beekeeper was still an enigma to Vincent; he hadn't told the others about her because he first wanted to find out what she was, but surely some meaning lay behind her sudden appearance.

The two friends were onto their third shots by the time the sliding doors opened with a pleasant beep.

Shelke walked into the bar, making for Vincent and Cloud with a glazed look in her shining eyes that was hauntingly familiar to those that knew her. There were however, a few WRO members who had not become accustomed to her presence and the made for the door swiftly.

"Vincent Valentine." The mechanical grind of her mako-powered voice came. "Lucrecia's feelings...may I speak with you?"

-

Vincent and the entrapped 19 year old walked to the deck, the only open space on the Shera. The breeze playfully wrapped itself around Vincent's cape and hair, making the red blur flap in the wind akin to a flag while his hair flounced around his head and neck like a headdress. Shelke's own hair, shoulder length and dead, sprang to life as the western wind wound its way around her locks, not long enough to disturb her vision, but with a sensation so alien to her that her voice wavered between tears and joy.

"Vincent...Lucrecia's Data...The Last Synaptic Net Dive may have shown me too much..."

The vampire leaned on the rail and faced out into the clouds. Dusk was settling over the Mountain's of Corel and the rivers and deserts below began to merge together to create a dreaming flow of ebbing starlight, reflecting the night sky in all its glory.

For not the first time since his return to the Shera, Vincent was glad to be in the here and now.

"What did you find, Shelke?"

Her eyes flashed amber as she stood back a little, her arms stretching outwards slightly while her clothes glimmered in a faint silvery glow. Vincent at first thought the moonlight was hitting her Deep Ground uniform, but then he realised that she was calling on the data stored within her mako strewn body. The young woman's voice lost its computer edge and became feminine. The tone and timbre of her words reminded Vincent of a woman he once knew, long ago.

"Vincent awoke today, his wound's healed. Hojo must have done something terrible for him to get himself into such a state; the skin underneath his nails was his own, ripped from his chest and his legs..."

Vincent opened his eyes slightly and stared intently at Shelke. What was she showing him Lucrecia's journal for? What would seeing the past again do to help him, or Shelke? The mechanical drone of Shelke's own voice returned.

"I apologise, Vincent Valentine, wrong entry..."

Vincent merely nodded, slightly apprehensive.

"I am about to leave Nibelheim. My son has been born and taken from me, a year past now. Vincent was put to sleep by Hojo after that madman infused him with another of his disgusting discoveries...G-Cells... I have no one left." A sob, so uncharacteristic of Shelke, left her mouth "I shall instil in Vincent a copy of my data, for him to call upon when he realises how to use it. The protomateria will house a copy of my consciousness; I only pray Vincent can at some point discover how it works..." Shelke breathed heavily, and her brow furrowed. This was obviously stretching her beyond what she was used to "...This way I will always be with Vincent. My body will probably never be found, everlasting thanks to that cursed being's cells, but ever dead. All I ask is that he knows..." Another heavy sigh "I'm so sorry."

Shelke collapsed onto the cold planks of the deck, drained completely. Vincent rushed to her side, his head reeling from the revelations of the protomateria. Lucrecia had left him with something of her?

_'Vincent...'_ The Beekeeper awoke, her voice piercing the numbness in his brain. _'We shall talk once the girl is settled, but you must ensure she remains safe.'_

'But how can we talk, Beekeeper? Our every word is listened to by...' and then Vincent stopped thinking. The other demon's voices were gone.

_'I can suppress them for short times. They believe I am haunting you, but know this...'_

Once again, the voice of a woman Vincent once knew filled his head. Audible through tears, the Beekeeper said

_'I'm so sorry...'_

-

_Author's Note: Thoughts please? The next chapter is going to span a few days, covering the conversation with the Beekeeper and the Strategy meeting. And then to Gongaga! Any ideas/requests? (I am definitely over my writer's block so would welcome the challenge of writing anyone's requests)._


	7. Zack?

III – I

After Vincent had carried Shelke back to her dorm and ensured she was safely in her Mako container, he found himself walking back to the deck.

Familiar floors and walls blurred past Vincent as he tried to fathom the night's revelations. Eight o'clock and in the past hour he had discovered that Lucrecia had been with him since she had left, that he hadn't been alone and that the Beekeeper was her. Any normal man would have cried, but Vincent Valentine's eyes merely stung and burned...

The deck railing came into view as he walked out into the still night, stars and moons lighting the darkened wood of the floor in a pale, ghostly silver, while the quick turning of the Shera's four main propellers overhead would cast certain areas in shadow from time to time, offering Vincent quick solace from the moonlight, which was too happy for our vampire. He straddled a pole and hung his legs over the side of the Shera, before tightening the cloak around his face to try and keep out the biting cold of the Corel nights.

'_Vincent...'_

The vampire lowered his head and closed his eyes, tears threatening to fall as the tender voice he thought he had lost forever flitted into his being, into his soul.

'_...it's me...'_

'The Beekeeper?' he asked, wary of letting his hopes build even in the presence of such an unmistakeable voice as Lucrecia's.

'_Yes...and Lucrecia. We are one now...'_

Vincent squinted a little, curiosity over riding his joy and his sadness, but nonetheless the burning in his eyes seethed.

'You are the same person?' he asked.

'_No...well...I suppose so...' _Lucrecia cut away, for a few seconds saying nothing, but Vincent somehow knew she had something to say. '_The Beekeeper is to me what Chaos is to you, Vincent. When Jenova made its way through my veins I managed to fight away the effects for years. I remained true to myself for as long as you were alive, Vincent, never once bending to the will of the Calamity.'_

'So you became a demon, thanks to Jenova?'

'_I didn't become a demon. I became...different. I started to change slightly, my hair began to go red and my skin started to darken...my eyes, turned crimson and my voice became cold and hollow; all while I worked on customising your protomateria. It was an obsession for 17 months, Vincent.'_

'What did you do to the protomateria, Lucrecia?'

'_I...I don't know. Somehow, I was able to copy my thoughts and feelings, my emotions and my logic...Thanks to Jenova I guess. I was able to send them into on specific gene in my blood, and through months of DNA extraction and rebuilding, I finally found the gene, and isolated it...I infused it with the mako inherent in the protomateria alongside the Chaos genes Genesis had discovered, and at last, I grew tired, Vincent. I missed you, and all I ever wanted to do was make things right.'_

'Make what things right, Lucrecia? You've done no wrong by me.'

'_No Vincent. It was I who gave you the burden...I allowed you to become Chaos' host, when he was better left alone...I'm so sorry...but the Chaos gene means Chaos is a piece of you, letting you control fragments of his power...I'm so sorry!'_

Vincent, for the briefest of moments, thought he could hear an echo. Lucrecia sounded just like him. He beat himself up for not being able to stop her from experimenting on herself and her unborn child, carrying with him always the guilt of her demise, while Lucrecia burdened herself with guilt for inflicting Chaos upon Vincent. A disturbing parallel existed between the two, and Vincent found it both comforting and awkward.

'Lucrecia...I'm sorry too...If I had managed to stop you from...'

'_No, Vincent, you have nothing to be sorry for...'_

The words he'd longed to hear. In the voice, he'd longed to hear.

'In that case, Lucrecia...neither do you...'

Vincent smiled. A weight seemed to lift from his shoulders, as inside his mind a slight choke reverberated as Lucrecia tried to keep from crying.

'The past...is the past...Can we agree to forgive each other's past, and look to the future...?'

Another choke from Lucrecia, and Vincent saw in his mind's eye the most beautiful scientist Shin-Ra had ever known, her face alight with joy, a smile wide across her face.

'_Vincent...Thank you...'_

'Thank you, Lucrecia...'

Vincent spoke with the shade of Lucrecia into the night. Lucrecia informed him of her connection with the Beekeeper, a demoness who the Goddess Minerva had created in the lifestream to prevent the reformation of untainted souls. Lucrecia, dying but undying thanks to the Jenova cells in her body, was turned away from the lifestream, doomed forever to walk the earth, much like Vincent had been.

'_I allowed the Jenova cells within me to change my appearance. I became an exact copy of the demon who called herself 'The Beekeeper' and I even managed to obtain some of her powers...I am both repulsed and awed by the powers of Jenova...I wouldn't be talking to you now, if it wasn't for it...'_

'And I wouldn't be alive, if not for Jenova cells...'

So Lucrecia described herself to Vincent as his guardian angel; always with him, despite having locked her earthly body away in a mako encrusted mountain in Nibelheim. Her body now lived on with no purpose, no power, encaged by its own accord, while her soul served as Vincent's guide. At the end of a long night, Lucrecia's voice began to freeze over again.

'_Vincent, I cannot talk like this for much longer. I am tired, and Jenova is starting to recover its role as The Beekeeper...but before ago, I know who you can suppress your demons...'_

'How?'

'_Go with your friends to Wutai. Therein lie the answers...'_

Vincent couldn't help but smile; one of his sins forgiven, and now the chance to be relieved of his punishment, made his conversation with Lucrecia even more special to him.

'Lucrecia...I lo-'

'_Don't say it Vincent. It would only hurt to hear it...but thank you...'_

Then all at once, the jeering voices of the other demons returned. For the briefest of moments, a pair of brilliant azure eyes, strewn with tears and glistening with unearthly beauty, shined in his mind's eye.

But then the earthly, gravelly tones of the Death Gigas, the high pitched maniacal laughter of Hellmasker, the foolhardy voice of Galian Beast, and the husky timbre of Chaos, along with the few other tortured souls who kept in the background, much more content to sleep and moan than to jibe and jeer.

'_So even the Beekeeper can't put up with you for too long...' _Chaos laughed.

Vincent merely smiled.

-

'_Gongaga, 14 miles, Strategy meeting: In Progress. All entrance to the Operations Room: Barred.'_

A voice similar to Shelke's churned as the door behind Cloud closed and locked itself. Technology on this scale was a mystery to the blond swordsman; he was more comfortable with a spanner and a motorbike. He merely shook his head, wondering why all this fangled stuff was necessary, and sat down beside Tifa.

She smiled. This gesture was big by Cloud standards, and in return she placed one gloved hand on his leg. Under the table his hand found hers and they sat comfortably silent while they waited for Reeve to finish preparations. Yuffie, in a portable bed opposite, grinned as Cloud's small smile receded into a meagre blush.

Shelke and Reeve were deep in conversation at the head of the table, the young girl sporting uncharacteristically normal clothes; a mini skirt that could have been one of Tifa's cast offs with a long, baggy white shirt. She looked completely ordinary, aside from her glazed eyes and the small pock marks that were usually hidden by her white lined Deep Ground uniform, showing the doorway to mako pockets, between the short skirt and the high pulled boots. A cross between Yuffie and Tifa, both girls had helped her pick her new outfit; her light sabres hung, unionised, by her sides on a loose fitting black belt.

Red XIII was giggling, also uncharacteristic, with Cid, the mature pilot telling racy jokes as he calmly puffed on his long baton-like cigarette. They sat opposite Reeve, a considerable distance given the size of the table, with Cait sith absently scratching his ears as he sat on the thick wooden top in front of them.

Vincent, silent and smiling, sat on the other side of Tifa, his cloak pulled high, and his arms folded. He had been in a good mood recently. Tifa wondered why.

-

The meeting was still dragging on. Useless updates on Barret's progress in the Mideel Sea, where he had 'deliberately steered 'the ship after a strong wind blew them in the 'completely right direction'. A series of fortunate events, Cid thought.

Nevertheless he was happy to know that his friend was safe.

-

One hour. One _whole_ hour. On this _one _fucking topic. Vincent sure did drag on. Cid twiddled his thumbs as he listened to something about his special materia, some beekeeper, a woman named Lucrecia and a lot of science. He was bordering sleep, dying to just return to his helm.

But he would have to wait. Reeve was next.

-

Reeve stood, his black suit jacket hanging open over his torso as the heat in the room began to get to him. He began the usual way, Aeon, Sephiroth, the end of the war and Corneo. The 're-brief' he called it. He knew it bored everyone but he liked to do things his way to keep himself correct and keep himself on track. His mind had a tendency to go off on tangents if not running on clear cut rails. The routine kept his own wandering imagination in check.

The others would chip in from time to time, adding pieces of the story they knew better, posing questions, offering improvements on his plans. He bored them, but he needed their input and secretly, they needed his guidance.

But the best was yet to come. And he knew he would need to answer a few more questions.

"And now, the reason for our special stops..." Reeve glanced at Cid, who stayed entirely focused on lighting his next cigarette. He had been appeased in not going to Rocket Town, but not pleased. "...we're above Gongaga territory now, and I'm sure you all know the story about the reactor there."

"It blew up." Tifa said, stating the obvious but at the same time posing a question.

"Yes. But that's not the long and short of it..." Reeve scratched his head. "...It was a deliberate explosion, there wasn't a building fault and there wasn't a defect in the working of the mako lines. The reactor meltdown was not, as Shin-Ra would let people believe, down to structural faults."

Mumbling spread around the table, the Yuffie had to be content with merely looking baffled as no one was close enough to her bed to share theories or arguments with her. Reeve smiled slightly. Who would ask...

"So it was Shin-Ra then?" Cloud said, surprising Reeve since his usual stoic manner allowed him no more than a grunt or a nod during strategy meetings "They did in Gongaga what they did in Corel."

Reeve grinned. The association with Corel had come up.

"No. Shin-Ra didn't cause the explosion in Gongaga, though it was to do with the Corel incident."

A puzzled look crossed Cloud's face and he just stared blankly at Reeve.

"Spit it out then." Cid said, roughly, loudly, and messily. He sprayed ash and spittle all over Cait Sith, who proceeded to grumble quietly to himself.

_Ever the eloquent speaker._ Reeve thought.

"The Gongaga explosion was caused by another experiment of Hojo's. The Gongaga reactor had served the same purpose as the one on Mt. Nibel; Hojo's files show that at least fifteen of his failed experiments were kept in the Gongaga reactor."

"So who is this experiment?" Tifa asked.

Reeve winced. "Zack."

Reeve looked at Cloud, who suddenly furrowed his brow as his face reddened. All eyes were on Reeve.

"How?" Cloud asked quietly.

"Zack was experimented on before he became a SOLDIER..." he began. He had been dreading explaining this to Cloud. "...After he caused the explosion in Gongaga, Hojo decided to upgrade him to a successful experiment, and he was immediately given 1st Class status. After his memory was wiped, of course."

"The technology Shin-Ra had was extraordinary, then." Cid said, an almost dreamy look passing over his eyes.

"No. It was all Jenova. Hojo manipulated some Jenova cells and planted them in receptors in Zack's brain. The formed fake memories, making him believe that he had gone through the normal SOLDIER induction process. But in truth, from when Zack left home until he was put on the Nibelheim case, he lay on an operating table. Once he failed to meet Hojo's high Sephiroth-like standards, he was kept in Gongaga Reactor, until he managed to escape and blow the place up. He was found by a recovery team which just happened to be headed by Hojo, who then put in motion his plan to put Zack and Sephiroth on a mission together."

"So Zack was meant to be in Nibelheim. As was I, as was Sephiroth" Cloud said. Reeve nodded.

"Hojo wanted you all together. He knew that you had failed Jenova cells in you, he installed Jenova cells in Zack and wanted to see how you would work together. But not before he extracted some of Zack's data."

"Zack's data? But he was failed!"

"No. Zack blew up the Gongaga reactor an escaped from the 50 odd SOLDIER guards stationed there. I wouldn't put it past Hojo to have planted his experiments there as a kind of test to see who would pass. But what I'm leading up to here..."

Reeve paused again, and cast a look at Cloud before continuing.

"We can't be sure, but I'm going to Gongaga to try and recover the records of the experiments. If I'm not very much mistaken, a genetic copy of Zack could be around somewhere, sleeping like Sephiroth was. If there is, we need to find him as well."

Cloud put his head in on hand and said nothing as Tifa rubbed his back and whispered in his ear. The others remained silent. Reeve couldn't think of what to say.


	8. Demonic Misgivings

III – II

_ – dream sequence_

An hour later the propellers of the Shera began to wind down as the ship lowered itself at the edge of the Gongaga forest. The palm trees in the nearest areas of the dense jungle bent from the force that the huge engines gave out as the ship landed, and the wildlife scurried away into the safer recesses of the dark expanse.

In the distance the gang could see the top of the burnt out reactor, one lone wall that still stood, testament to how high the structure had been. Over the years since its destruction, it had become vandalised by the local gangs, the "Shin-Ra" logo having been sprayed over with particular vigour.

They had split into three parties; Cloud, Tifa and Vincent were going to visit the town and try to gather information, a task none of them were looking forward to, having already met Zack's family in the town once before. Cloud had been adamant he was visiting the town however, and Tifa suspected he just wanted to do anything other than investigate the reactor itself. Cid, Cait Sith and Red XIII were going to go into the reactor proper, leaving Reeve and Yuffie on the Shera with the crew. Yuffie was pissed that she wasn't getting involved in the action, but after trying to get out of her bed and ending up in a heap on the floor, she accepted defeat.

Cloud sighed heavily as he watched Cait Sith bound off into the jungle with Red XIII and Cid in tow. He wished more than anything that they didn't have to visit Gongaga, of all the places on Gaia. Zack's hometown was the one place on the planet he dreaded visiting more than his own. Shouldering his sword, he walked into the jungle ahead of his comrades, desperate to get back to the Shera as soon as possible.

Nothing much in Gongaga had changed. The monsters were still as temperamental and the jungle was still boiling hot; even Vincent had to loosen the collar on his cape after twenty minutes under the canopy of burning hot leaves. Nothing particularly exciting happened along the way, except perhaps Tifa having to fight off two tree-mutant monsters single handed while Vincent was scouting ahead for Cloud who seemed to had forgotten he was working in a team.

Tifa and Vincent entered the town of Gongaga together, their hearts already heavy with the atmosphere in the place. So much despair and depression, so much loss and nostalgia. The graveyard at the entrance to the town was one of the happiest places in the desolate hamlet; the only place where people smiled as they remembered their loved ones.

"There he is..." Vincent said calmly, looking to the north western corner of the cemetery.

Cloud had laid one of his swords in the ground, in front of a particularly small headstone which was covered in ivy and thorns. A few of the letters could be seen poking through the growth.

_H e L _

_Za K Fai_

_SOLDI _

_1__st__ Cl _

"But...Zack wasn't buried here..." Tifa said as she rested her head on Cloud's shoulder. The blonde had tears in the corners of his eyes, but he had his goggles down, obviously hoping to hide them from his brunette lover. Tifa ignored the tears and simply sighed.



"No, he wasn't"

The three friends turned around to be faced with an elderly couple, both easily in their sixties, holding withered hands while they kept their balance with sticks in their free ones.

"We only got a letter about it...so we buried that instead..." the woman said, her eyes falling to the ground. Her hair was gray and matted, but Cloud sensed that in her younger days it had been raven coloured locks of flowing beauty, like Zack's had been.

"We needed somewhere to come and think about him..."The old man explained, pulling his wife into a close embrace. "Are you friends of Zack's...?"

"Well..."Tifa began.

"I was in SOLDIER with him. I was there when he died..."

The old man's pained expression darkened, and he turned on the three out-of-towners, dragging his wife behind him.

"Leave here. We have no need of SOLDIER anymore."

"But, we're not..."

"Leave it Tifa" Vincent said simply, pulling her back to Cloud with his clawed hand. She understood what he was trying to say and hugged Cloud, who had resumed his position on the ground in front of Zack's headstone. "I'll ask around."

The crimson caped vampire stalked away from his friends, wary of disturbing Zack's parents once more, and set about surveying the town.

A figure of white dotted against the lush green that was the Wutai mountain range, Aeon walked alone with his thoughts as he fought to escape from a world of training and learning and reading and fighting. He wanted nothing more than to disappear into the wind, to cast off his robe and let his body merge with the breezes and the sunlight, leaving behind the material world to be satisfied only with existing, an element of nature.

He smiled as he contemplated the wind, a force he had struggled for as long as he could remember to tame, and to master. With a flick of his hand he made the smallest of cyclones right on the palm of his hand, and with the merest of thoughts he moved it from side to side, humouring himself while he walked.

The birds that flew around Wutai had always followed Aeon around, and he had come to think of them as his only friends, and today was no exception. One bird in particular, a Wutai Eagle, had always dared to fly closer to him, inch by inch, day by day, until a few months ago it had finally plucked up the courage to land on his shoulder and let him ruffle its feathers.

'_I'll call you Soria'_ Aeon had thought, noticing that the bird was a female.

He had never known Jenova, the woman who had given birth to him. The scholars told him that he had been raised by a woman named Soria until the age of four, when his uncle Corneo had flown him to Wutai in order to ensure he received the best education. Out of respect for the woman that had nurtured him from birth, Aeon named his bird friend after her, even though he had no recollection of her whatsoever. The monks had taught him reverence for others.

'_I'll call my next friend Jenova'_ he thought to himself as he walked alone, allowing the cyclone he created to fade back into its larger cousin, the Eastern Breeze.



His white robes waved in the gusts that blew inland from the ocean, and he closed his eyes while he communed with the wind. Soria called happily to her brethren in the skies as her companion attuned himself to the winds, and with a short cry she took off into the clouds above.

Aeon raced her, as he often did, surfing the wind like it were water, fighting his friend for dominance in the skies. He cheated, like always, by sending a gust of wind into Soria's wings and blowing her of course. He loved to soar in the air like this, casting his body off while his mind wandered high above the ground and his spirit flowed across the skies.

As Soria began to catch him up, his earthly body smiled while his spirit soared higher than any bird, his magic running wild across the sky.

Vincent was getting nowhere. Everyone refused to talk about the incident that had caused their town's destruction. He had been ushered out of every store after he had tried to probe more into the event than the patrons and customers were willing to share, and before long he found himself being ignored by the mayor at his front door.

"...and we were just wondering what people remember about the incident." He had finished.

"Come back another day. I'm busy" was his reply.

He was angry. For the first time in a long time, he was actually angry. The people were being evasive and abrasive, he was getting nowhere and all Cloud seemed to be doing was sinking back into his spiral of depression and angst.

'_Cloud isn't helping you Vincent'._ Death Gigas whispered. Vincent jumped, surprised that his demons were talking to him after a good two days silence. He strained his ears and listened as the familiar buzz started to fill the space in his brain once more, the constant heckles returning. '_Why is your 'friend' letting you do this?'_

"He's upset. He just needs time..."

'_Vincent Valentine.'_ Galian Beast began. _'You may not think so but we want to help you.'_

Vincent grunted. He had stopped dead in his tracks now, just before the graveyard. He decided to sit under a particularly large palm tree, while his rage built and his demons fuelled the fires of his anger.

'_He just wants to be alone with Tifa. He wants to let you know that she is his; he doesn't want you to get too close.'_

"Don't talk rubbish!" Vincent snarled, more anger venting "Tifa's a friend, nothing more!"

'_Oh, come now, Vincent' _Chaos started _'You've seen the way she looks at you, surely? And I've felt the way you have...'_

Vincent blushed. He remembered the first few days of his journey with the others...Tifa...yes, she had been appealing. Yes, he had found himself let another sin add itself to his burden...yes, he enjoyed fighting at Tifa's side. Such a powerful and beautiful woman fighting for and with him was exhilarating, a feeling he remembered only too well as the demons forced him to relive those moments as he fell asleep under the tree.

He, Tifa, and Yuffie were exploring Bone Village when they had been attacked by a group of goblins; no major threat. Vincent gulped as he remembered, this was the day before Aeris died.

'_No time for guilt, Valentine'_



Yuffie was knocked out surprisingly fast. Overconfident, she left herself open to a devastating team attack.

And then it was just Vincent and Tifa, too preoccupied to help their friend. Vincent kept his distance and danced around the outskirts of the small clearing the had stumbled across while Tifa charged in at close range to the goblins, her fists and feet landing forceful blows as she cartwheeled, somersaulted and danced her way around the goblins.

Vincent had found himself lowering his gun just to watch. Tifa's hair, long and tough, wrapping around her lithe figure as she weaved around her adversaries, accentuating her curves and her movements; Vincent had to snap himself out of his thoughts to help her again.

Before long, the goblins were defeated and Yuffie was revived. Tifa, glistening with sweat, smiled as she walked past Vincent and patted him on the back, a cheeky wink gracing her features before she set off again.

On the way to bone Village, Vincent found himself too flustered to walk beside Tifa. He insisted on talking the rear as the two girls walked ahead a little. Vincent's view of Tifa's rear was prime.

The heat startled him. He sat up to fast and collided with a low branch, his head aching.

'_I still feel what you feel, Valentine...'_ Chaos sneered.

Vincent looked down. An obvious bulge had grown in his pants, and they felt far too tight on him.

'_Cloud wants to keep you two apart. He isn't upset. He's jealous.'_ The devil continued, a smile passing Vincent's features as he mimicked the winged demon.

'_We can deal with him, if you'd like...'_ Death Gigas chipped in.

Vincent shook his head and stood, pulling his cape around him to try and hide his excitement.

"Leave me alone...leave me..."

The buzzing in his mind stopped.

"...alone?"

He stood alone with his thoughts for a few seconds, before he walked slowly into the graveyard.

Tifa was holding Cloud as the blond swordsman gripped her tightly to him as he cried on her shoulder. The brunette looked at Vincent as he entered the small cemetery and offered him a small smile.

"...beautiful." The vampire whispered to himself.

Once again he shook his head.

_Lucrecia..._

Guilt, Envy, Lust; deadly sins, atop his burden now

"Come in Tifa!" Cid's voice crackled across her radio. She picked it up quickly and stroked Cloud's hair as she spoke into the receiver. Vincent flushed once more and turned away, heading back into the jungle towards the Shera.

"It's me Cid. Everything okay?"



"Yeah girl, everything's done this end. Meet on the Shera in fifteen minutes, Cosmo Canyon's just over the mountains. That alright?"

"Okay Cid, we'll get you aboard."

She slipped the radio back into her pocket and turned to where she though Vincent was.

"That's us finis..."

The vampire was gone. Puzzled, she let Cloud keep crying while she silently stood and took the blonde's hand in hers as she lead him from the cemetery.


End file.
